LIMA DAYS 0 & 1: First 2018 Trip Begins

Welcome to Lima... have some Soup!

Thursday, March 8, 2018

My flight landed around 10 pm. Fernando picked me up, and on the way to my place, we stopped at a 24-Hour Chicken Noodle Soup place.

I had - no surprise here - Chicken Noodle Soup, and Fernando and I both had an order of Anticuchos (Marinated, then Grilled, Beef Hearts on a Stick)

Friday, March 9

I walked down to the nice Coffee Shop near my apartment. In an apparently insane decision, they now open at 9 am, so no Coffee there.

Luckily, there was literal Hole in the Wall two doors down that was happy to sell me breakfast.

 

So, for the price of 7 Soles (about US $2.20), I had freshly blended Pineapple Juice, way-too-strong Coffee, two Rolls, a Scrambled Egg and two undercooked slices of Bacon. The newspaper was another 17 cents.

Bertha came by and met me for Lunch. She wanted to try Barra Mancora, a Cevicheria specializing in food from the Piura region of Peru (that's where her family is from).

The place is small, and it was crowded. We were lucky that a table opened up as we walked in.

We decided to order four dishes, and shared them. The first thing that showed up was the Calamari Hamburger.

This was a patty of (I assume) ground Calamari, fried up and topped with Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado. We couldn't taste anything that resembled Calamari, but it was really good.

Next up was the Causa Crocante.

A Causa is usually mashed Yellow Potatoes, in two layers, with some sort of filling between them, this time it was Crab Meat -- Basically a Crab Salad Sandwich with Mashed Potatoes instead of Bread. Because they could, they covered the whole thing is some sort of coating, and deep fried it. Also very good.

The last two dishes came out pretty much together.

 

First, Chicharron de Pescado (Fried Fish Chunks). Nothing fancy here, just pieces of fresh Fish fried up. The last was their Ceviche Barra Mancora. This is a mixed Seafood and Fish Ceviche. Both of these dishes were very good as well.

When we were walking back from the restaurant, I told Bertha that I thought that the food was great, but I didn't see much of a difference between what we had there and what we would get at a non-Piura style Cevicheria. She agreed. We both decided that we would return, but if you were looking for a taste of your home town, that wasn't the place.

I had plans to meet Todd for dinner at Panchita. I haven't seen Todd in probably close to eight years -- we met here and have kept in touch ever since, and I was looking forward to it. And Panchita is my favorite restaurant, so it added up to look like a great night.

We were outside talking when Carlos, my personal waiter, came running out to get us. They wound up putting us at the same table that Todd and I were at eight years ago. We had to do a lot of catching up, so we just ordered a plate of Yucitas (fried Yucca) and a new dish - a Seafood assortment.

Carlos and Todd Negotiating his Order

 

 

I am normally not a big fan of Yucca (Can't spell Yucca without 'Yuck!'), but these were delicious. I'm not sure what they did to them, but everyone should do it. The Seafood assortment was disappointing. It had some of my favorite things - Scallops Parmesan, mini-Octopus on a stick, Fried Shrimp and Calamari, but... it just didn't do it for me. When they took the plate away, there was still food left on it. The table next to us had the standard assortment, and that looked as fabulous as ever, so I think we should have stuck to the classic.

For our Main Courses, I had the Lomo Saltado over Tacu Tacu, and Todd went with a Peruvian Classic, Aji de Gallina.

 

 

As ever, my dish was fantastic. And way too much food. Panchita is good at getting the temperature of my steak correct (I like it super rare), and Todd seemed impressed with his Chicken Dish.

For Dessert, Carlos correctly assumed I would go for the Queso Helado.

This is like extra wonderful Ice Cream, except different. Anyway, I love it. Todd has never tried it before, and he matched me bite for bite.

So, I was a little disappointed with the overall meal, due to the Appetizer, but my expectations were more than met with our reencuentro... I hope it's not another eight years before we see each other again.